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How Would You Like to Pay?: How Technology Is Changing the Future of Money
From Bitcoin to ApplePay, big changes seem to be afoot in the world of money. Yet the use of coins and paper bills has persisted for 3,000 years. In How Would You Like to Pay?, leading anthropologist Bill Maurer narrates money's history, considers its role in everyday life, and discusses the implications of how new technologies are changing how we pay. These changes are especially important in the developing world, where people who lack access to banks are using cell phones in creative ways to send and save money. To truly understand money, Maurer explains, is to understand and appreciate the complex infrastructures and social relationships it relies upon. Engaging and straightforward, How Would You Like to Pay? rethinks something so familiar and fundamental in new and exciting ways. Ultimately, considering how we would like to pay gives insights into determining how we would like to live.
176 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2015
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458 people want to read
About the author
Bill Maurer
25 books2 followersBill Maurer is Dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of How Would You Like to Pay: How Technology Is Changing the Future of Money and other books.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 3, 2024
Beautifully designed book but perhaps now dated
Quick read but important questions asked and a good dip into the construct of money and what it means.
Biggest takeaways for me was the use of mobile ‘airtime’ as currency and its importance in developing countries and for those below the poverty line who can’t get bank accounts.
Also, understanding the difference between viewing money as something itself of value or as a relationship representation. I lean toward the latter!
Further hammering home that trust is very important in whatever is used as money
Quick read but important questions asked and a good dip into the construct of money and what it means.
Biggest takeaways for me was the use of mobile ‘airtime’ as currency and its importance in developing countries and for those below the poverty line who can’t get bank accounts.
Also, understanding the difference between viewing money as something itself of value or as a relationship representation. I lean toward the latter!
Further hammering home that trust is very important in whatever is used as money
February 1, 2017
This book is about changes in the way that we see and use money as technology increasingly replaces cash. Alas, I did not find it a terribly informative or thought-provoking book. It reminded me in many ways of BBC radio documentaries on economic topics--erudite, slightly boring, and largely retreading information that is widely available. It was in the few tidbits of information I hadn't heard about before that the book was its most compelling, but since the book is not grounded around a narrative but around ideas, it often didn't develop those tidbits very deeply. I felt like this would have been a better article than a book.
So what are we to take from the idea that people can use their cell phones to transfer money around, for example? In that question is the problem that I have with Maurer's book. He doesn't go much deeper than, Yeah, people can do this. More interesting questions are why such technology hasn't taken off.
Of course, as Maurer points out, it has--in Kenya. There, there's a company call M-Pesa. It functions as people's banks and Western Union resources in a nation where people in many places lack access to formal banking facilities. That's, of course, why it took off there. In other nations where we'd expect such a service to have more of a draw, people have access to banks and to credit cards, both of which ironically are sort of older technologies (though plastic has only really been around since the 1970s apparently). (But that still doesn't quite explain why people haven't switched over, which would be an intriguing question to try to answer.)
Another interesting idea: That it was only about 150 years ago that money was monopolized by the state. Before that, money was often issued by various vendors: railroads, banks, stores. Such money helped make transferring goods among/to people easier. But something that Maurer doesn't address is how American money, coming into its monopoly state near the beginning of the 1900s would seem to coincide somewhat closely (by two decades) with the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, that is, income tax--an interesting coincidence that I think would be worth treating out.
With the shift in technology, specialized, nonstate money is making a bit of a comeback. We're talking not just Bitcoin but also coupons, gift cards, and discount tokens. And we're most especially talking about cell phones, for while systems like M-Pesa offer formalized ways to transfer money via phone, more informal means also exist. For example, if I buy a top-up card for twenty dollars, send the code to someone too far away for me to drive to, and then tell them to buy a book for my daughter at college there. Barter in a way has taken place, but also the top-up card has stood in place of currency. The person gets minutes but spends cash to buy a book. This usage is what has freed up people in developing countries to "bank" in a way in minutes, where banks haven't been readily available.
In the end, the author concludes, money is unlike other "technologies" because money is about relationships--how we relate to others and to our world.
One thing I can say of note here is how beautifully the book is designed. It was that--its diminutive size, its color photos, its font, and quirky chapter numbering--that first drew my attention to the work. Then the topic itself seemed like it would be something interesting.
So what are we to take from the idea that people can use their cell phones to transfer money around, for example? In that question is the problem that I have with Maurer's book. He doesn't go much deeper than, Yeah, people can do this. More interesting questions are why such technology hasn't taken off.
Of course, as Maurer points out, it has--in Kenya. There, there's a company call M-Pesa. It functions as people's banks and Western Union resources in a nation where people in many places lack access to formal banking facilities. That's, of course, why it took off there. In other nations where we'd expect such a service to have more of a draw, people have access to banks and to credit cards, both of which ironically are sort of older technologies (though plastic has only really been around since the 1970s apparently). (But that still doesn't quite explain why people haven't switched over, which would be an intriguing question to try to answer.)
Another interesting idea: That it was only about 150 years ago that money was monopolized by the state. Before that, money was often issued by various vendors: railroads, banks, stores. Such money helped make transferring goods among/to people easier. But something that Maurer doesn't address is how American money, coming into its monopoly state near the beginning of the 1900s would seem to coincide somewhat closely (by two decades) with the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, that is, income tax--an interesting coincidence that I think would be worth treating out.
With the shift in technology, specialized, nonstate money is making a bit of a comeback. We're talking not just Bitcoin but also coupons, gift cards, and discount tokens. And we're most especially talking about cell phones, for while systems like M-Pesa offer formalized ways to transfer money via phone, more informal means also exist. For example, if I buy a top-up card for twenty dollars, send the code to someone too far away for me to drive to, and then tell them to buy a book for my daughter at college there. Barter in a way has taken place, but also the top-up card has stood in place of currency. The person gets minutes but spends cash to buy a book. This usage is what has freed up people in developing countries to "bank" in a way in minutes, where banks haven't been readily available.
In the end, the author concludes, money is unlike other "technologies" because money is about relationships--how we relate to others and to our world.
One thing I can say of note here is how beautifully the book is designed. It was that--its diminutive size, its color photos, its font, and quirky chapter numbering--that first drew my attention to the work. Then the topic itself seemed like it would be something interesting.
March 10, 2024
This book is a good introduction to what seems to be a pretty common idea in economic anthropology–that money represents the creation, the maintenance, and dissolution of social relationships and operates under a variety of ecologies around the world. Maurer specifically looks at how digital money interacts with this idea, which is interesting. I feel like this book doesn't go really deep into anything—it offers some deeper analysis, but does not expound due to the brevity of the book. This book felt more like a YouTube summary documentary than academic writing. There's so many intricacies in this topic that Maurer himself briefly mentions that could've been explored.
February 2, 2020
A really good review of on how we think of currency/money and how we and other cultures create formal and informal currencies. i loved the ideas and the design of the book was beautiful. However I really wished some of the thoughts were fleshed out more and would love reading more on this topic
December 2, 2020
Easy quick read of 143 pages. I thought I knew a lot about money. Apparently I have a narrow experience. The author delivers a nice history of payments, money, and the more recent trend of mobile payments. Very interesting read. Don't wait too long - the market is changing every day.
March 27, 2018
Readable overview but wished there had been more analysis. Beautifully designed.
September 17, 2015
Like it or not, how we pay for things is changing. A lot of the development can be positive and beneficial; yet it only takes a power cut or a network problem or worse and then…? Technological advances are, problems aside, delivering great benefits for more people than ever before. It can be saving those who have often the least quite large sums of money. If can also make it too easy for us to spend what we don’t have and borrow more to do it.
The author takes a look at the world of money and payments through a broad lens, pooling insights from many disciplines including history, anthropology and technology to provide a fairly interesting, open and forward-thinking book. Cash still can have its place but there can be greater advantages with electronic payments; the rush to move to electronic and online payments has been fraught with problems, namely security has failed to keep pace. Instead of picking a pocket or raiding an armoured car, a talented criminal hacker can attack hundreds of thousands financial accounts, moving money around the world through a web of bank accounts in seconds. Some criminals prefer the bulk, brash approach and some use salami slicing where it is felt better to get a few cents from a lot of people who don’t notice for a long time, than a big attack that can be quickly detected and possibly acted upon.
There is no free lunch, nor no risk-free option, no matter where you keep your money and how you use it.
“It can also cost money to have money: to keep it stored safely, you need a minimum amount in order to keep a balance at the local bank, if there even is a local bank, or you may need to pay a person to store it for you. You may have to pay a fee to send money to another person far away from you, to pay for a service or a thing, to support your family, or to help someone out in times of need. You pay this fee to a money transfer agency. These can be formal, international businesses like Western Union, or informal networks of money transfer agents, and everything in-between. You may also have to pay some of your money to fulfil your religious duties, to demonstrate fealty toward your ancestors, and to prove yourself a worthy person in your community,” writes the author.
“Money is also fun to play with. Coins are satisfying to hold, flip, throw, spin, hide, and re-cover. Paper bills can be cunningly folded, ripped, burned, drawn upon, and modified in a host of ways. Money is one of the magician's favourite props. The act of destroying value by tearing up a bill or making a coin disappear always creates excitement in an audience, and the relief at seeing the value restored always draws applause. Magicians play on the mystery of paper and metal, worthless objects in themselves, signifying value. Banknotes can be folded like origami paper and the resulting paper given as gifts, kept as curiosities, or put at the bottom of a jar next to the cash register to encourage tips,” the author notes. Money even has a place in death, other than just the inheritance that a few many hope to receive, the thing families can be split over, whether it is actual or symbolic money that is burned as a gesture to the afterlife. Some spirits are fussy; allegedly the Vietnamese dead demand paper sacrifices in the form of U.S. dollars…
This book just keeps on giving knowledge to the reader, even if you didn’t think you wanted any. How about is that for value-for-money; even money has its place in the choice of words and their meanings whether directly or indirectly referring to monetary transactions. Even a missed call – what’s that to do with opportunity and money? For that bit of knowledge you’ll have to read the book, yet it is an interesting, eye-opening and innovative simple thing!
Think about money and how you handle it. The author brings it into perspective too in his rather relaxed, inimitable way: “For money: throwing a coin in a busker's guitar case is different from tossing it; crumpling a bill and leaving it as a tip is different from folding it over once, diagonally; from placing it on the table; from placing it in the hand or, more firmly and deliberately, in the palm. Tossing a bill or coin in a card game or dropping money reverently into a box at church; offering with spite or offering with pity; a quick beep of a missed call to say, I am alive!, or the repeated, insistent beeps of a multiple flasher demanding you call someone back and insinuating—without words, text, or images—that you are a greedy bastard if you don't. We are already seeing people express themselves with mobile money— using it to conceal transactions from spouses, or to advertise payments within a social group. The repertoires of mobile and money represent a web of use cases not always captured by our common-sense assumptions of what mobile and money are, are for, and can do.”
That’s it. You’ve had your lot. Time to cash up. One final money-related reference: buy this book!
Autamme.com
The author takes a look at the world of money and payments through a broad lens, pooling insights from many disciplines including history, anthropology and technology to provide a fairly interesting, open and forward-thinking book. Cash still can have its place but there can be greater advantages with electronic payments; the rush to move to electronic and online payments has been fraught with problems, namely security has failed to keep pace. Instead of picking a pocket or raiding an armoured car, a talented criminal hacker can attack hundreds of thousands financial accounts, moving money around the world through a web of bank accounts in seconds. Some criminals prefer the bulk, brash approach and some use salami slicing where it is felt better to get a few cents from a lot of people who don’t notice for a long time, than a big attack that can be quickly detected and possibly acted upon.
There is no free lunch, nor no risk-free option, no matter where you keep your money and how you use it.
“It can also cost money to have money: to keep it stored safely, you need a minimum amount in order to keep a balance at the local bank, if there even is a local bank, or you may need to pay a person to store it for you. You may have to pay a fee to send money to another person far away from you, to pay for a service or a thing, to support your family, or to help someone out in times of need. You pay this fee to a money transfer agency. These can be formal, international businesses like Western Union, or informal networks of money transfer agents, and everything in-between. You may also have to pay some of your money to fulfil your religious duties, to demonstrate fealty toward your ancestors, and to prove yourself a worthy person in your community,” writes the author.
“Money is also fun to play with. Coins are satisfying to hold, flip, throw, spin, hide, and re-cover. Paper bills can be cunningly folded, ripped, burned, drawn upon, and modified in a host of ways. Money is one of the magician's favourite props. The act of destroying value by tearing up a bill or making a coin disappear always creates excitement in an audience, and the relief at seeing the value restored always draws applause. Magicians play on the mystery of paper and metal, worthless objects in themselves, signifying value. Banknotes can be folded like origami paper and the resulting paper given as gifts, kept as curiosities, or put at the bottom of a jar next to the cash register to encourage tips,” the author notes. Money even has a place in death, other than just the inheritance that a few many hope to receive, the thing families can be split over, whether it is actual or symbolic money that is burned as a gesture to the afterlife. Some spirits are fussy; allegedly the Vietnamese dead demand paper sacrifices in the form of U.S. dollars…
This book just keeps on giving knowledge to the reader, even if you didn’t think you wanted any. How about is that for value-for-money; even money has its place in the choice of words and their meanings whether directly or indirectly referring to monetary transactions. Even a missed call – what’s that to do with opportunity and money? For that bit of knowledge you’ll have to read the book, yet it is an interesting, eye-opening and innovative simple thing!
Think about money and how you handle it. The author brings it into perspective too in his rather relaxed, inimitable way: “For money: throwing a coin in a busker's guitar case is different from tossing it; crumpling a bill and leaving it as a tip is different from folding it over once, diagonally; from placing it on the table; from placing it in the hand or, more firmly and deliberately, in the palm. Tossing a bill or coin in a card game or dropping money reverently into a box at church; offering with spite or offering with pity; a quick beep of a missed call to say, I am alive!, or the repeated, insistent beeps of a multiple flasher demanding you call someone back and insinuating—without words, text, or images—that you are a greedy bastard if you don't. We are already seeing people express themselves with mobile money— using it to conceal transactions from spouses, or to advertise payments within a social group. The repertoires of mobile and money represent a web of use cases not always captured by our common-sense assumptions of what mobile and money are, are for, and can do.”
That’s it. You’ve had your lot. Time to cash up. One final money-related reference: buy this book!
Autamme.com
Read
February 24, 2016"In the end, How Would You Like to Pay? is of interest less for what it says about the future (the author makes no predictions which, given the Isis debacle, seems prudent) than for how it encourages the reader to pay attention to nuances of the present. It’s a primer of the anthropological imagination and a reminder that money is too important a matter to leave to the economists." — Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
11/25/2015
"This little book is the exact size it needed to be to explore the array of new payment methods, currencies and other money technology innovations that have erupted over the past decade, alongside with more accessible and cheaper smartphone, tablet and other communications and computing technologies.... Entering electronic money contracts without understanding the problems and solutions they represent is risky both for the isolated farmer in Kenya and for a Silicon Valley executive, so both would benefit from this book." — Anna Faktorovich Pennsylvania Literary Journal
12/01/2015
11/25/2015
"This little book is the exact size it needed to be to explore the array of new payment methods, currencies and other money technology innovations that have erupted over the past decade, alongside with more accessible and cheaper smartphone, tablet and other communications and computing technologies.... Entering electronic money contracts without understanding the problems and solutions they represent is risky both for the isolated farmer in Kenya and for a Silicon Valley executive, so both would benefit from this book." — Anna Faktorovich Pennsylvania Literary Journal
12/01/2015
January 5, 2016
If you’d like a very brief synopsis and sample of this book, this passage from about one-third of the way through will serve nicely:
“…people working on new technologies of money tend to assume that money is just money. But money is so much more, besides.”
That’s it? Yes, this passage gives you a good hint as to the content and insights in the book. It’s disappointingly thin on detail and description and provides only shallow insight and analysis. Given its length, it means the book is also annoyingly repetitive. A few pages in I had lost count of how many times the author had already shared the banal and frustratingly vague argument that “money is so much more than just ‘money’.”
It’s a shame since the topic (innovation in payments) is so fascinating and ripe for an in-depth and rigorously thoughtful analysis (or even just a thorough history or thick ethnography). In any event, if that’s what you’re looking for, you can safely skip this.
“…people working on new technologies of money tend to assume that money is just money. But money is so much more, besides.”
That’s it? Yes, this passage gives you a good hint as to the content and insights in the book. It’s disappointingly thin on detail and description and provides only shallow insight and analysis. Given its length, it means the book is also annoyingly repetitive. A few pages in I had lost count of how many times the author had already shared the banal and frustratingly vague argument that “money is so much more than just ‘money’.”
It’s a shame since the topic (innovation in payments) is so fascinating and ripe for an in-depth and rigorously thoughtful analysis (or even just a thorough history or thick ethnography). In any event, if that’s what you’re looking for, you can safely skip this.
April 6, 2016
A wonderful book for anyone interested how recent innovations in money(mobile payments, bitcoin, etc) are only the latest developments in a long historical process of defining what money is and what it does. What it may lack in nitty gritty details is made up for in clarity and insight- a great balance between theory and direct observation.
It's surprisingly informative and substantial for such a tiny(and adorable) book- great for anyone tryna predict the future of our financial system on a tight schedule.
It's surprisingly informative and substantial for such a tiny(and adorable) book- great for anyone tryna predict the future of our financial system on a tight schedule.
May 29, 2016
This book does not provide much of the "how" or steps in payment or the changes in the future money but rather it provides the existing and various practices and meanings of money to different people from different countries.
Using these diverse practices as cue for the future of money the author then advocates the readers to rethink about using mobile money to reinterpret the future of money. This proposition was repeated multiple times but the author doesn't really offer a more precise means of moving forward or researching this topic.
Using these diverse practices as cue for the future of money the author then advocates the readers to rethink about using mobile money to reinterpret the future of money. This proposition was repeated multiple times but the author doesn't really offer a more precise means of moving forward or researching this topic.
January 3, 2016
Very promising title and rich recommendations for further reading. Somehow I could not get rid of the feeling that author did tell us only an extremely limited part of what he knows.
However this book is exciting - suitaible more for technology enthusiasts and designers, less for people with background in sociology.
However this book is exciting - suitaible more for technology enthusiasts and designers, less for people with background in sociology.
May 31, 2016
Coin, currency, check, card (credit, debit, gift), and electronic transfer -- money is exchanged in many forms nowadays. Though new technologies come, the "traditional" forms stick around. (How many coins do you have on your dresser, in your car, or under your sofa cushions?) Bill Maurer is both an economist and an anthropologist. He has written a concise, clear, and entertaining book.
August 11, 2015
This was an interesting read and I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in how technology is changing the future of money. Certainly had me thinking.
I was fortunate to have won this book in the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.
I was fortunate to have won this book in the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews